Lily Luna and the Ruby Potion
by iheartcake
Summary: Lily Luna Potter is a 6th year Slytherin at Hogwarts. She's really just a normal girl - until one day. When Lily finds a something magical in her Hogwarts trunk, she doesn't know what to do. But, even worse, the power doesn't work for her friends! This is one journey Lily will have to take alone. But, as it turns out, it could be very, very dangerous.
1. Chapter 1

Lily Luna and the Ruby Potion

Chapter 1 | Lily Luna

"Lily Luna Potter, you get down here right now!" Came Mum's voice.

I threw the last few items in my trunk, including one of my robes. I looked at the "S" embroidered on the tag. No one else had ever noticed it, and I'd never told anyone for some reason. Suddenly, I snapped back to reality. I walked out of my room to find my brother standing there.

"I'm not coming to the station," he said, with the slightest hint of apology in his voice.

"Oh. Well then, bye, James." I threw my arms around my oldest brother, who had graduated from Hogwarts two years ago. He was now an Auror-in-training.

"Bye, Lily." His arms wrapped firmly around me. I was almost as tall as he was, even though he was three years older. He was not short; it was just that I was very tall for my age. Mum always said Uncle Ron was the same way when he was a kid. It was hard to picture my Uncle as young as I was.

I grunted, heaving my trunk down the stairs. Ten minutes later, we were at King's Cross Station. The Hogwarts Express was already there. I looked back to see My parents and Al standing behind me.

"Bye, Albus."

"Bye, 'lil sis." I felt his warm arms engulf me in a hug. He had finished Hogwarts last year, so he would not be not coming with me. He had his mind set on being a Quidditch player like um, only he wanted to be a seeker, like Dad was during his school years.

"Bye, Mum, I said. She wrapped me in a warm hug.

"Bye, Sweetheart!" I let go. My flaming red hair got caught on the turquoise necklace that my dad had given her for their anniversary. Mum always said I got that hair from the Grandma I would never know (after all, I did have her green eyes), but Dad insisted that I got it from the Weasley's side of the family. Fred and George, in particular. Our personalities were so alike, so why not our hair?

"Try not to cause too much mischief while you're gone. At least not as much as last year," said Dad, trying to look stern.

"Oh, sure," I said sarcastically. "I'll just follow my dear father's example, and never break any rules, whatsoever." I smirked. I could tell he was trying to suppress a laugh. Of course I could tell, he was failing miserably.

"Bye," I said smugly. My parents waved back at me. I went to board the train, James and Al had already done so. It took a minute, but I soon found Evelyn and Liam, sitting in a compartment together, snogging. Of course.

"Really, guys?" I laughed at them. "Sorry to - erm - 'burst your bubble,' but aren't you just a little too mature for that? On the train?" I asked. Liam Nellman and Evelyn Perkinson were my two best friends. "Actually, on second thought - you two, mature? Pfft." I laughed at the mere concept as I sat down across from them. This was getting rather annoying. "C'mon, we're sixth years now! We have to set a good example for the younger kids."

They finally broke apart, and Liam spoke up. "Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Lily Potter, queen of good behavior," he retorted. I had a hard time not laughing at the expression on his face.

"Well -" I had no comeback for that. He smirked at me, so I stuck my tongue out at him. Ev gave a cough that sounded suspiciously like the word "immature."

"Hmph," I said, faking an outraged tone. "Langlock." Her tongue was instantly glued to the roof of her mouth, and I stuck mine out at her. She got her wand out and undid the jinx. Why did she have to be so good at those non-verbal spells? My wand seemed to be able to master everything but that.

"Hilarious," said Ev. Her tone was dripping with sarcasm, but I could see the corners of her mouth concealing a smile.

…

The rest of the ride there was fairly quiet. We got off the train, and rode up to the school in the carriages pulled by the thestrals Dad had told me about.

Bump. Bump. The carriage wheels rolled not-so-smoothly over the gravel, as Ev's long blonde hair swung next to me. Slowly my eyelid began to feel heavy….


	2. Chapter 2

Lily. Lily. _Lily!_ " Evelyn poked me. "Did you seriously fall asleep?"

I jerked awake. "What? Um, no, no."

"Yeah, right. C'mon, let's go. We're the last ones." We climbed out of the carriage.

By the time we arrived at the Great Hall, the sorting was about to begin. Professor McGonagall, the headmistress, stood at the front of the hall, her grey hair tied up in a neat bun under her hat. Ev and I hurried over to the Slytherin table, closest to the door. Liam was already there. Neville, I mean, um Professor Longbottom, waved at me from the staff table in front of the hall, so I smiled and waved back. During the sorting Hat's song, I mostly just talked with Ev and Liam, but I caught a few of the lyrics:

" _\- Or Hufflepuff, the kind and true,_

 _maybe that's the house for you..."_

"Urgh! Would you two cut it _out_ with the romance!" I snapped at Liam and Evelyn.

Ev put on her most two-year-old like voice. "You're not the boss of me!" I rolled my eyes. Why did they always do this?

My cousin Hugo waved at us from across the room. The hat was singing something about being "bravest of them all" or whatever, so I playfully stuck my tongue out at him for being a Gryffindor. The song continued:

" _\- Slytherin, cunning and determined,_

 _Green and silver, house of the serpent…"_

It ended soon after that. Not that many kids got sorted into Slytherin this year, but that made us cheer all the louder for the ones that did. I suppose they asked not to be sorted here. I remember when I used to think Slytherin was the "evil house." It's definitely not. The only bad part is that we're known for despising Gryffindors. Pfft, my whole family is in Gryffindor! Admittedly, I do tease them about it (especially James), but I've got absolutely nothing against them! Although, I remember Uncle Ron's reaction when he found out I had been sorted into Slytherin - it was absolutely hilarious. He gave me an incredulous look, and said "Blimey, Lily!" And then, later, (when they thought I was asleep), I heard him talking about it to Dad. He kept saying stuff like "Bloody hell, Harry! Lily, a Slytherin! My own niece." He didn't sound angry, though. It was more like… _shocked_ , but I could hear the smile in his voice. I remember having to hold my breath to keep from laughing so hard that they would hear me.

"What's so funny?" Liam smiled at me.

"Huh?"

"You were laughing."

"Oh, I was?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, um - nevermind." I smiled to myself.

"Ok…" Liam's eyes twinkled at me. His brown bangs fell gracefully across his forehead as he looked away -

 _Shut up,_ I told myself. _He's one of your best friends._ Friends. _Besides, Ev, remember?_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 | The Silver Dagger

I read over my schedule. First period - Charms, Professor Charlestons. Second Period - Herbology, Professor Longbottom. Third Period - History of Magic, Professor Binns. Fourth Period - Potions, Professor Delilah. Delilah?

I've never heard a professor go by their first name before. She must be new. Dad said Professor McGonagall used to teach Transfiguration. I tried to picture a much younger version of the Headmistress teaching first years to turn water goblets into animals, but I could not imagine it. I laughed. She seemed to _dignified_ for that, somehow.

Our first day of classes was extremely tedious. Especially History of Magic, but I had expected that. My parents had had the same professor - Dad always said Aunt Hermione was good at the subject, though I couldn't understand how.

Professor Delilah turned out to be my new favorite professor (right after Neville, of course). She had also turned out to be the new head of Slytherin house. I wondered why McGonagall hadn't told us at the Sorting. Slowly but surely, the days turned into weeks, then months, and so on.

Until that one day.

It's still crystal clear in my memory.

Me, Ev, and Liam were in Defense of the Dark Arts. We were learning how to conjure patronuses for the first time that day.

" _Expecto Patronum."_ Silver mist came from the tip of my wand, but no animal. " _EXPECTO PATRONUM!"_ I tried again, concentrating as hard as I could on that time last year when me and Ev were in detention for giving a professor a piece of Ton-Tongue Toffee from uncle George's shop, but we couldn't stop laughing about it.

A silver-grey fox burst from the tip of my wand. I looked over at Liam to see that he was grinning at the coyote he had just produced. It looked similar to my fox except that it was larger, with a heavier gate. Ev had managed to produce a cloud of silverish fog, but nothing more. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

" _Expecto Patronum!"_ She gave a squeal of delight as she opened her eyes to see a silver dolphin, "swimming" through the air in front of her. Finally.

"Class dismissed!"

"Bye!" I waved to my friends.

I hurried down the stone steps to the Slytherin common room. I had a free period next, but Liam and Evelyn had Study of Ancient Runes. "Sea serpent," I said absentmindedly to the portrait, and the door opened. I saw the giant squid swim past one of the windows as I headed for the girls dormitory. I planned to use my last Nosebleed Nougat to get out of classes tomorrow, but….

Then it happened.

I was rummaging through my trunk, when I saw a gleam of silver sticking out from underneath my robes. I pushed the green and black cloth aside to reveal a gorgeous silver dagger. It looked old and worn out, but in a mysterious, intriguing sort of way. I reached out to touch the diamond-studded handle. I no idea how something so unusual yet alluring could have possibly ended up in _my_ hogwarts trunk. That's when I noticed that there was a letter S engraved on the bottom of the dagger's blade. It looked exactly the same as the one on the my robes. But there was something else engraved on the handle of the dagger, between rows of diamonds. It read:

Erised uoye no, re vehcihwno peaw amai.

I knew I recognized those words from somewhere. At least, the first word. _Erised._ Where had I heard it?

Then it came to me. I remembered sitting on my bed, listening intently as my father described to me and my siblings his own first year at Hogwarts. And the Mirror of Erised.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 | The Ruby Potion

I set the dagger aside. But it had slashed through the fabric of one of my Hogwarts robes. I fingered the torn edges of the fabric. Absentmindedly, I reached my hand through the hole in the cloth.

I expected to feel nothing.

Or the smooth fabric beneath it

What I did _not_ expect to feel was cold, hard metal.

Was it metal? There was definitely something inside it. It was like someone had put an undetectable extension charm on the inside of my school uniform! My finger clasped something roundish, with a sharp edge. I slowly, nervously pulled it out of the hole. It was most beautiful golden goblet I had ever seen. It too had words in a strange language carved into the side:

Erised uoyhc ihwt aht tone riuq er eruoy noi topeh tec udor pi.

And it had the letter S engraved there, too.

So there was not only a Mirror of Erised, but a Dagger of Erised, and Goblet of Ersied.

But then, as I held the cup in my hand, it filled with a potion like none I had ever seen before. I was a brilliant scarlet color, so much so that I could have _sworn_ it was made of liquid rubies, or something like that. Maybe liquid diamonds, too. The crimson-red potion against the gold goblet somehow reminded me of the gold Gryffindor lion on scarlet. I set down the goblet. To my surprise, it immediately drained of the ruby potion. I picked it up, and it filled once more. I had never seen anything do that before.

" _Reparo."_ I mended the tear that the dagger had made.

"Sea serpent." I suddenly heard a voice from outside the door. I quickly hid the goblet under one of my folded robes in the trunk, and the door opened.

"Oh, it's you." I let out a sigh of relief as I saw Liam walk in with his arm around Ev.

"I am so glad that tomorrow is Friday," she said loudly. "But can you believe Professor Gable is making us write two and a half feet on - "

"Come here!" I whispered to them in an urgent tone. "We need to go somewhere where no one will overhear us."

"Well… there's the prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor… hardly anybody ever goes in there," Liam suggested.

"Perfect!" I exclaimed.

"None of us are prefects." Ev looked at him skeptically.

"So? Right, because none of us have ever broken any rules before."

Evelyn smiled "Whatever you say…."

A few minutes later we were rushing up the stairs. "I don't see why you have to bring your other robes- ."

"You'll see in a minute" I said, feeling slightly annoyed with my friend.

Once we got to the bathroom, I pulled out the goblet and the dagger. I watched as the goblet filled with the crimson potion. I summarized to them everything that had happened to me in the last hour.

"And… well, every time I touch it, it fills with this red potion, and… well, I don't know what to do." But Evelyn gave me a look askance.

"What potion?"

"You… you can't see it?" I stammered.

"I see the cup, but I don't know what potion you mean…"

"Here." I thrust the goblet at her. "You hold it. Do you see it now?"

"Still nothing." She shook her head, and looked at me in an apologetic sort of way.

"Urgh." I wanted her to _understand_ , not to feel sorry for me! I snatched the cup from her and shoved it towards Liam. "Please tell me you see it?"

"No." His deep blue eyes stared back into my green ones. "But I believe you."

That wasn't good enough. I let out a sigh of exasperation, and placed the two Items back in my trunk. "Let's go. I have homework to do."

That was a lie. But I wanted to go to the library and look up everything I could on potions, and magical qualities that objects could possess.


End file.
